Saturday, February 28, 2009

weekend.

Well the weekend has arrived :) Hope you find time to play. Kids were having so much fun with the balloons left over from the birthday party! Too funny. They were playing rockband with their big bellies and every so often I'd hear someones water broke!! LOL!! Yes, that's me in SERIOUS concentration! LOL.

Have a great weekend!

.j.

Friday, February 27, 2009

boy baby bear

OK, this bear is so adorable! Love him!! I thought this card would work for my little nephew, but it could work for a baby boy shower as well. I kept the card simple. Blues/browns, touch of green... yummy! I'm trying to use up some rubons as well so the 'for you' is from a batch of stampin' up rubons. I'm confused with how to pack up my stamping stuff. DRAMA. Do I keep some of it out? Do I pack it all up until September? *sniff, sniff*.... how could I handle that kind of withdrawal??? :) I'm thinking that I will stamp up a BUNCH of images. Pack my Copic markers..... oh, I still don't know. But, it's gotta get done. There's embellishments, rubons, stickers, DS paper, adhesive, punches, stamps, inks, tools, cutters... how does one decide? OK, what would you take? If you knew you would be away for 4-6 MONTHS.... had to pack everything for your entire family in the BACK OF A PICKUP! (ok, huge space issues here!!)... what would you put in the corner of your suitcase???? Now you see my dilemma! LOL.
Well the weekend is here! ENJOY.
.j.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

bee thanking you

One thing I'm really trying to instill in my kids are thank-you notes. You rarely see them anymore, nor do I even hear about it (except the groan of a new bride that has a list of 100 of them to get through... ugh, I remember those days!) Megan's friend invited her to join her family for a day of snowboarding. WOW, was she ever excited to get out on the slopes again as she's been taking snowboarding lessons with her school (now cross-country skiing). One plus for living north!! She came home bubbling with all kinds of stories (and a sore tail bone!) and while she was away I made a thank-you card for her to give to them that week to thank them for their generosity & kindness. Megan was thrilled. Actually she asked me to make it for her before I even mentioned it which I was so happy about!
This is a card of many layers (too much maybe??) I used the cuttlebug (two different one, didn't really like the first one, so did the next layer as well). Then used my nestibilites to create the embossed square & scallop square. The little bee is from Stampendous. Eyelets are from an assorted stash i have from Stampin' Up! Wow, ribbon on there too! This is a busy card! :) LOL. Megan loved it though, wrote in it & gave it away. So it's all good. What about you? Do you make and give many thank-you cards?
.j.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Do you love your crockpot?

I love mine. Seriously. To be able to make something the night before or that morning, turn it on and then walk away only to sit down to a yummy meal that feeds my whole family with ONE pot to clean?! Amazing. So, from my good friend Julie (HEY JULIE!!) came this recipe that my family devours when I make it and continually tell me never to loose the recipe! It's easy. I say.. go grab your crockpot!!

Ham & Scallop Potato Casserole
In crockpot put:
5 (or more) potatoes (sliced thinly)
1 cup diced onions
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup peas
2 cups diced ham (cooked)
In a pot, whisk together:
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
2 cups milk
Stir this until it boils & thickens. Pour over potato & ham mixture. Stir.
Now she didn't give me any time for the recipe (I should really ask her) but I just put it on low in the morning and it's perfect by supper time. So, I'd say on LOW for 8-10 hrs. The house will smell yummy too!!
Enjoy!

Also wanted to say thanks to you all for your well wishes on our family adventure. It feels so good to have a dream and finally just GO FOR IT! Love that "makin' happen" feeling!!! And yes... FOR SURE... I will still be posting while we're away. :)
.j.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Joshua turns 10 in a month!

Next month Joshua turns 10. K, I must say, life is going by too quickly. I'm really trying to focus on savoring the moments - they'll be grown & on their own before I realize. It's good for me to remember to stop, slow down, and be in the moment. So easy to get caught up in the face pace of life! For Joshua, I wanted something simple. I had made a card before with these stars and he thought it was very cool, so I thought I'd recreate it (with some changes) for his birthday card. Did some paper-piercing & layering (red) and avoided ribbon. I thought the red helped the card pop a little without the need of ribbons (which probably wouldn't impress him). A few brads at the top to add some texture & popped out a couple of the stars with stampin' dimensionals (not sure if you can tell in the photo). I love that the kids love my cards :)
The packing continues... a little bit each day I keep telling myself so I'm not overwhelmed with it all :) Baby steps. I should be a pro. I think we figured out that in our nearly 15 years of marriage we have moved 14 times (and we lived in one house for 4 years!!!).... I should be used to this by now. I want the next one to be forever.... but I'm thinking it won't be. Not quite yet.
ahhhh.... patience. I'm learning :)
.j.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Dreams.... and packing boxes!

Well, it's official - we're moving. Yes, again. Yes, we're crazy. :) Yes, I'm still smiling, even though I look around and see boxes waiting to be packed up. So.. the reason my stamping has been *very* limited is because we've been going through some MAJOR decisions. Isn't it interesting how & where life takes you? More than likely we will be back up here this fall, but until then we are heading out on a family adventure. Pulling the kids out of school & FINALLY heading to Arizona!! A place my hubby dreams of and desperately wants to move. Now whether or not we'll ever actually live there?? who knows, but for now, we're heading down to check it out and also spend some time in California. We're so looking forward to the time away to spend as a family. Life has been more than stressful & we are so looking forward to this time together. It will be treasured!So, that's the news :) Needed to tell family before anyone else -- so it's all out there now :)

So, what I have been trying to do when stamping time appears, is to stamp ahead and get the birthday cards that I *need* while we're away. I won't have my stamping stuff with me, so I need to be prepared for upcoming birthdays & such. Just can't imagine BUYING a card! LOL. So this one is for Sarah (our #3) who will be turning 8 while we are on our trip. Hard to believe my baby is getting so big now. She still loves orange with touches of pink, so again her card had to have ORANGE as the feature color! She also loves to read. She spends her mornings with her little lamp on reading, reading, reading.. until she slowly drifts downstairs for breakfast. What a way to wake up! :)

Kids are thrilled beyond belief with it all. They were told we're taking them to Disneyland for their birthday - wow, the shrieking involved was amazing. A perfect reaction! :)

Kids are home this week - winter break here. So it's been great not to have to rush to school. Just enjoying being with them.. playing LOTS of monopoly! :)
enjoy your week!
.j.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Megan turns 12.

Hard to believe 12 years ago we were headed to the hospital, induced, sent home, back to the hospital.... :) The joys of baby #1 - wow, what excitement!! So I will post again on Monday, but this weekend is all about Megan. We have a family day/party planned today and then tomorrow all her friends come over for the afternoon and evening to hang out & celebrate with us. It should be TONS of fun.... hope to then update you as well on the goings on around here :))))
This is a card that will {eventually} be for my niece - used the nestibilities to makes that circle and sort of "hooked" it on the edge of the image. Just one of those cards that evolved as I went :)
Well - have a fabulous weekend everyone!
.j.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I found a bear.

As I continue to go through stamping supplies, I came across this adorable bear. It's amazing the things you find!! LOL. My niece is turning 4 and I thought this bear was darling. I made some baby cards with it as well that I'll post soon. The base of this card I ran through the cuttlebug with one of my favorite folders (Swiss Dots). As I locate & USE UP older sheets of design paper I came across this pink one from Stampin' Up! I colored in the bear with my Copic markers & the sentiment is a rubon. Do you hoard & stash your supplies too? I'm not purchasing anything else right now until I use up what I do have - ok, not ALL of what I have - LOL - but at least make a dent! Sheesh. What do you find that you hoard the most? For me it's rub-ons & special eyelets... something that is "original" and once used up - gone. It's easy to use that kind of stuff up on scrapbook pages for myself, but giveaways are harder :)

Well, enjoy your day today - tomorrow my first baby turns 12 - how did that happen? So it'll be her dinner choice (which is the same every year!) GINGER BEEF. Takes forever to make, but she loves it and I only make it once a year for her birthday.... perhaps I'll post the recipe next week - it is amazingly delicious!!

.j.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cauliflower/Broccoli Soup

A family favorite!
Chop & Simmer for 20 in approx. 3 cups of water:
1 head of Cauliflower
1 bunch of Broccoli
4 ribs of celery
1 large onion

Blenderize, set aside (you don't have to use all the water from the veggies, but save it in case the soup gets too thick)

Make a cream sauce with:
4 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour

Add veggies and:
2 tsp curry
2 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp chives (calls for it, I never have it though)
3 chicken bouillon cubes (I've used beef & veggie too)

I also add a bunch of grated cheese to the top of each boil & bacon... Mmmmm... enjoy. Great as leftovers & also freezes really well.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

my brother's card


Sorry for the photo... my lighting is off.... need to tweak that a bit. Hard to take photos indoors in the winter time without any natural light. ANYWAY. A card was finally made. My brother is totally into photography so I thought I'd make a little film strip for his card :) It was a very quick card (yes his birthday is in May... I'm getting PREPARED this year!!) I stamped & cut out the star (added dimensionals as well, to pop it off the page) and the other "images" are rubons. Made for a quick card! I stamped the corner with his birthday on it :) Easy. Done. :) Love that. I always find it hard to make a *manly* card -- one without lighthouses, wild animals and golfers. I was pleased with how the simplicity of this one works. What do you think?
Busy this week as we get ready for my oldest girl's 12th birthday party this coming weekend... but I still hope to faithfully post. We made her invitations on the weekend (she wanted to make the explosion boxes, so that was fun).
Ok.. busy day so I'm off.... enjoy yours!
.j.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday I finally had a chance to spend some time stamping!! So... I will upload those in the next couple of days and begin showing you. I needed to get some upcoming birthday cards done, but I also decided to pull out some older stamps & play with them. Love that. It's like new found little treasures! So.. stay tuned, I finally have something to show you! LOL.
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. It's a long weekend here in Alberta, "Family Day" tomorrow - how awesome is that! So I'm hoping I can ignore the house a bit longer & squeeze in some more stamping time... we don't REALLY need to eat at the kitchen table, do we?!??
.j.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Friday the 13th.....

..and my birthday. I always hated when it landed on a FRIDAY! LOL.

I'm sorry that I have no cards to share with you - seems like a stamping LULL has hit us strong up here! Ha. Worked on Valentine's with the kids and (ACK! forgot to take photos....*sigh*) -- what's with that?!
Just been busy with life, but I'm really hoping to find some time to stamp amongst the list of TO-DOs that is growing by the day.... hope to have some exciting news to share with you soon (which will help you understand my lack of stamping & posting!!!)
What are you all working on? Leave me a comment, & let me know :)
Thought I'd at least leave you a photo -- a great day of sledding last weekend. "Warmed" up enough to head outside for awhile!
.j.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Brayer.

It's been some sporadic posts for me of late. Kids not feeling well, hubby on a few days off (finally), and the basics of life have kept me out of the stamps & off the computer! Home from church this morning with little Sarah who's caught a bit of the flu bug. Poor thing. Hopefully a down day will enable her to feel rested & able to go to school tomorrow.
I've seen a lot of cards down with the sunsets using the brayer. I thought I'd give it a try (and not a very good one at that). My results seemed to be quite gloomy (poor color choices I think). I decided to make it into a stormy type sky and turn it into a masculine birthday card. Not my favorite, but an attempt. Sometimes that it's all about - attempts! :)
To do this you need to use glossy cardstock. Here is the link to a great online tutorial if you'd like to give this technique a try yourself.
http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/the-easy-sunset-tutorial.html
Hope you had a great weekend. Had a bit of a warmer day yesterday and we had tons of fun sledding in the trails! :) Enjoy your Sunday...
.j.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Enjoy your day.

How's your week starting out? Ours is moving along quickly as per usual. Hoping hubby has a day off tomorrow - he's worked 21 out of the lat 26 days and we're all feeling tuckered out!
As I said, lots of birthdays coming up, so I've been on a birthday card kick these days. This is another pennyblack image... tried to use "boy" colors as this one is for my nephew. Avoided the ribbon this time and used my cuttlebug arrow diecut to make the little arrows pointing to the rub-on greeting.... simple. I like simple.
Off to hunt for a recipe.. think it's spinach lasagna for dinner tonight? Hmmm... not sure I have any mozza cheese.... might be heading to the grocery store.....
.j.


Monday, February 02, 2009

Hello February

Wow - February has arrived already! It's a busy month for us - full of family birthdays. One of which is my oldest girl. She was DUE to arrive on my birthday, but came one week later :) She will be turning 12 and I can hardly believe it. Where does the time go? Reminds me to cherish all the moments as when she turns 24, I'll wonder where 12 went! :)
Her favorite color is {still} purple. Blue is creeping in there, but has yet to overtake first place, so I thought it fitting for her birthday card to be all purples. She is also my reader! If she could do anything - she would curl up on the couch and spend hours starting & finishing a good book! Wherever we go, she has a book with her. I love that she loves reading. She was THRILLED with all the new books she got for Christmas this year.
This stamp image is by pennyblack. I used a ton of punches on this card along with bits & pieces of this & that :) - label punch, tag punch, designer punch, threading water punch... The design paper is a retired pack from Stampin' Up! Funny all the things you find as you start to clean up & clear out your stuff! I added a little bling to the 'make a wish' - to girly it up a little (she's NOT my girly-girl, but sometimes likes a little).
Hope to keep up with the posts this week. Some issues have been piling up so that's been eating up my time. But I am looking forward to finding some stamp time soon!
Enjoy your week!
.j.